BATON ROUGE — The No. 4 Lady Bulldogs stopped the No. 9 LSU Lady Tigers’ home winning streak at 17 Sunday afternoon, 64-55, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Senior Marie Ferdinand produced the fourth double-double of her career registering 19 points and 11 boards, but it wasn’t enough. This is also the second double-double of the season for Ferdinand, the first came in the second game of the year in a 45-56 loss to No. 5 Duke. (22 points, 11 rebounds).
Georgia’s defense stifled LSU in the second half of the game holding the Lady Tigers to just 8-of-26 shooting in the final 20 minutes. UGA also forced 18 LSU turnovers while out-rebounding the Lady Tigers 37-to-28.
It took nearly three minutes for Georgia to get on the scoreboard. The Bulldogs opened the contest 0-for-6 from floor and 0-for-2 from free throw line before Tawana McDonald ended the drought with a two pointer. Meanwhile the Tigers opened with 8-2 run in the opening 5:22.
LSU forced six turnovers in the first seven minutes, but the combined play the Georgia twins, Coco and Kelly Miller, helped the Bulldogs climb back into the game. C. Miller scored UGA’s next seven points to cut the LSU lead, 14-11, with 12:02 left.
The Tigers countered with Marie Ferdinand who opened the game 5-of-5 from the floor. Ferdinand was the only Tiger to play all 40 minutes for LSU.
The Lady Tigers held the lead throughout the first half until K. Miller knocked down a jumper with 8:41 left in the first half tying the game, 19-19. K. Miller finished the night with 10 points, eight boards and seven assists.
The Bulldogs enjoyed their first lead of the game when C. Miller knocked down one of her two three pointers.
Georgia would not enjoy the lead for long, Doneeka Hodges answered with a three for LSU knotting the game at 22. LSU would regain the lead just once more in the first half with April Brown’s first three-point basket giving the Tigers a 29-28 lead with under a minute to play.
A pair of late free throw from McDonald gave Georgia a 30-29 lead that the Bulldogs would take to the locker room. She finished the afternoon with a 10 point, eight rebound effort.
The Tigers were able to open the game shooting 7-of-10 from the field, but the Georgia defense cooled the Tigers’ shooting efforts holding LSU to just six of their next 18 attempts.
Despite a valiant effort by LSU, the second half belonged to the Lady Bulldogs. C. Miller led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor including 2-of-3 from behind the arc.
LSU has yet to defeat the Bulldogs in Baton Rouge in 12 years. The last home victory for the Tigers at home was in 1989 when LSU upset the fifth-ranked Bulldogs, 82-72.
Georgia now leads the series notes 16-7, 6-2 in Baton Rouge. Next up for LSU is a 7 p.m. match-up against the Kentucky Wildcats at the PMAC.